New Mexico State University
Weekly Activity Report
August 11 – 15, 2014
President Garrey Carruthers, Ph.D.
• Just like Willy Nelson, I was on the road again this week. Cheryl Harrelson, Andrea Tawney,
Liz and Mike Ellis, and I visited Phoenix for two and one half days. The agenda included
visits with:
 Larry and Tara Sheffield, both Aggie graduates and Larry served on the Board of Regents,
Doug Keeling, an agricultural economics graduate who is a big time farmer (3,000 plus
acres) in the Casa Grande area (and an old car guy like me);
 The Arizona Public Service Company Foundation which has donated to NMSU in the past
as the company has a business presence in the Farmington area and recent past President
Jack Davis is an Aggie engineering graduate;
 Sam Edmondson, a 1961 engineering graduate, who was here during my undergraduate
days and was able to confirm many of the wild stories I tell about the good old days at
NMSU (New Mexico A & M for part of his and my time);
 The Phoenix Alumni Chapter, which was hosted by the Ellis family at their historic
ranch/farm/studio in Scottsdale. There were over 80 attendees who demonstrated real
Aggie pride;
 Mike and Andy Drexler, both College of Business graduates and donors and Mike is a
dedicated Aggie sports fan;
 Carol Smallwood, one of the most dedicated Health and Social Services College graduates
who is a very active member of the College Advisory Council; and
 Irene Hafen, a dear friend and former NMSU employee who left a legacy gift for the
College of Business. Kay Hafen, Irene’s recently deceased husband, was the Vice
President for Finance at NMSU for years.
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Chairman of the Board Mike Cheney, Chief of Staff Sharon Jones, and I visited several
universities in the region regarding athletic conference alignment. Just checking things out!
On our tour of the region, we had time to visit with Stan Fulton and Linda Mars, both great
donors to NMSU.
I welcomed the Discovery Students (freshmen here to learn to ropes about attending NMSU)
and also checked in on move-in day and the Aggie BBQ and University Welcome.
Executive Vice President and Provost, Dr. Dan Howard
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In a meeting with the community college presidents on Tuesday, August 12, we discussed
security on community college campuses and the question of what is the right mix of security
officers and police officers for community college campuses. Later in the day, I joined the
community college presidents and others for a two-hour active shooter presentation from the
FBI. The good news is that NMSU is seen as having a good CARE team that is knowledgeable
with regard to long-term threat management.
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On Thursday, October 13, I attended the last hour of the College of Arts and Sciences
Department Heads retreat as part of a “Shark Tank” judging team that evaluated proposals from
five teams for improving NMSU. The first team focused on improving the retention rate of
first-year students and noted that the most critical period for these students is the first, three
weeks of class. Moreover, they noted that relatively small outreach efforts can reap big
rewards with these students. Among the best practices are: a personal email message from a
faculty member, early welcome events within departments, and senior (student) mentors.
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The second team focused on internationalization, noting that an international experience both
enriches the undergraduate experience for our students and improves retention. This team
advocated for greater investment in our study abroad programs.
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The third team focused on research and creative activities and advocated for the creation of a
research academy to help junior faculty members, in particular, become better proposal
writers. They also advocated for more social activities, and perhaps the creation of a faculty
club, that would bring faculty together informally and encourage interdisciplinary discussions
that are difficult given the physical separation of disciplines on this campus.
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The fourth team advocated for the development of a creative space on campus where faculty
and students could come together to work on innovative ideas of students. The final team
focused on the need to grow the colleges and the faculty and the need to reallocate resources
from administration to the core mission of the university—teaching and research.
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The presentations from the department heads were thoughtful and entertaining, demonstrating
the wealth of talent and dedication to the university that characterizes this wonderful group of
faculty/administrators. Thank you, Dean Slaton, for inviting me to participate in this event.
Dean, College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences,
Dr. Lowell Catlett
Plant and Environmental Sciences:
• The 2014 Chile Pepper Institute Teaching Garden, located at the Fabian Garcia Science Center,
113 West University Ave, is open to the public. The theme is "All-America Selections (AAS)
Winners." ‘NuMex Easter,’ one of our newest ornamental chile pepper cultivars was selected as a
2014 AAS winner by the All-American Garden Bureau. We have also included 21 of the past AAS
chile pepper winners since 1935. The Chile Pepper Institute Teaching Garden at New Mexico
State University has been an integral part of the Chile Pepper Institute’s teaching resources for
more than 15 years. The Garden grows more than 150 different varieties of chile peppers. The
Garden is open to the general public for self-guided tours seven days a week from 8:00 am to 5:00
pm. Garden maps and information can be found in the mailbox attached to the Garden sign. There
are also staff guided tours available for a small donation. For more information visit the CPI’s
Garden webpage at www.chilepepperinstitute.org/chile_pepper_institute_garden_tour.php or call
575-646-3028.
Media Productions/Ag Communications
• Dr. Barbara Chamberlin and Amy Smith Muise recently presented at the 9th Annual Casual
Connect USA Conference in San Francisco, Ca. The talk, "User Testing Made Easy," discussed the
process developers in NMSU's Learning Games Lab and Media Productions use in their product
development with continuous testing from regular testing groups in the Lab. Casual Connect
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presentations are focused on cutting-edge topics in video games. More than 3,000 industry
professionals attended this conference with more than 300 industry experts speaking at the event.
Event organizers also featured Chamberlin and Muise in separate articles, which can be seen at the
following links:
http://gamesauce.org/news/2014/08/07/barbara-chamberlins-insatiable-learning-quest-casualconnect-video/
http://gamesauce.org/news/2014/08/07/amy-smith-muise-loves-education-games-casual-connectvideo/
Dean, College of Arts and Sciences, Dr. Christa Slaton
• The Associate Deans and I met with Dr. Zhaohu Li, Vice-President of China Agricultural
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University. He received his doctorate from Auburn University and worked with one of my Auburn
research colleagues, Dr. David Bransby. Small world. Dr. Li was particularly interested in the joint
doctoral program that our Computer Science Department has with an Italian university. Students
obtain doctoral degrees from both universities.
I attended the Active Shooter training that was sponsored by the NMSU police department. It was
extremely informative and provided factual information that contradicted many assumptions and
stereotypes about active shooters on university campuses.
We are working closely with Facilities to address safety concerns we have in the dean’s office. The
prompt attention to our concerns by Facilities has been reassuring and deeply appreciated.
The college registered 29 new Arts and Sciences freshmen in the New Student Registration that
was held during the week.
The college held an all-day department head retreat to discuss: advising, retention, recruitment of
graduate students, shared services center, budgets, quality initiative and assessment. The highlight
of the retreat were presentations by five teams who made proposals for funding to support:
advising and retention; internationalization and diversity; research collaboration; reduction of
administrative offices; and community-university partnerships. The exercise was named the “Shark
Tank” after the popular television program that features budding entrepreneurs who seek financial
support from successful entrepreneurial investors. The “Sharks” for the event were Provost Dan
Howard, Regent Jordan Banegas, Las Cruces Sun-News Publisher Frank Leto, and CEO of
multiple restaurants and catering companies Marci Dickerson. Awards to teams ranged from $500
to $8,000.
Associate Deans and I attended several events to welcome freshman to campus: Discovery Days
Dinner at Fulton Center; UNM-NMSU Pre-Pharmacy Program Welcome of Students and Parents
at Fulton Center; and Aggie Bar-b-que and Welcome on Corbett Center lawn.
The college provided support together with Facilities & Services to help complete the installation
of the DOD XRD Diffractometer in Gardiner Hall.
James McAteer (Astronomy) received $125,931 from NASA NSPIRES, including funding for a
subaward to ADNET. James Murphy (Astronomy) received $19,475 for NASDA NSPIRES. Gary
Eiceman (Chemistry & Biochemistry) received $50,000 for his DHS-Northeastern University
award. Satyajayant (Jay) Misra (Computer Science) received $40,000 from LANL. Elba Serrano
(Biology) received $168,601 for the NIH-RISE program. Shibin Dai (Mathematical Sciences)
received
$114,210 from NSF for the first two years of a three-year award.
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Anatoly Klypin (Astronomy) received $50,000 from NSF-University of Illinois. Jennifer Curtiss
(Biology) will receive an R15 award. Ken Hammond (History) signed a contract with Victor
Xiong (Western Michigan University) to co-edit the Routledge Handbook of Imperial Chinese
History (Taylor and Francis). He will write the chapter about the late Ming period (1522-1644).
NMSU alumni Justin Raines (Music) won the 2014 Harvey Philips Prize for Chamber Music
Composition for his work "Cauterizing The Soul" for Tuba and String Quartet.
Dean, College of Business, Dr. James Hoffman
• It saddens me to have to share this sad news with you. On August 8th Dr. Jerry Hampton
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unexpectedly passed away while on a family trip to Sedona, AZ. Dr. Hampton has been a longtime faculty member here at NMSU, the Department of Marketing. He served as Department
Head for several years before returning back to faculty and serving an active role with both
undergraduate and graduate classes. He was a great friend and will truly be missed.
Jim Hoffman and Anthony Casaus, Assistant Dean, traveled this week to Phoenix to attend the
NMSU Alumni Association Phoenix Chapter Aggie Alumni reception held on Monday and
make some development visits.
The Delta Lambda Chapter of Beta Alpha Psi, the honorary accounting fraternity, was awarded
first place in the prestigious Deloitte Best Practices competition in the category of Leadership
at the BAP Annual Meeting held August 7-9 in Atlanta. Winners from all eight of the regional
meeting competitions vied for this coveted title. Those presenting were undergraduate and
graduate accounting students Darren Vander Dussen, Milo Lish, Kristen Romney, Alexis
Carson, Roger Lilly and Preston Mitchell. In addition to a first place trophy, the chapter
received a check for $1,500 from Deloitte LLP. The chapter was also awarded a Distinguished
Chapter designation this year for their fraternity activities and outreach.
Dean, College of Education, Dr. Michael Morehead
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Michael A. Morehead, Dean
Traveled to Flagstaff, AZ to visit donors and outlining the college of education's many success
stories to donors in the region.
He also attended the Alumni reception in Phoenix. This reception had over 60 attendees and
was coordinated by Joel Granger a graduate of the College of Education.
Reviewed the MOU for the placement of the Audiology Booths at the new Early College High
School and met with LPCS representatives to finalize the agreement.
Dean Morehead met with Dr. Jeanette Haynes Writer to discuss the possibility of offering an
online Master’s degree program in Spanish and also a possible program with Ecuador to deliver
a master’s degree program to Ecuadorian teachers.
Dean Morehead attended The Bridge meeting that discussed how The Bridge can better support
teachers in our county; this included reviewing material provided that provided results of a
survey and focus groups. At this meeting, it was determined to develop an action plan on how
businesses can respond to teacher needs and interests.
James O’Donnell, Associate Dean
Reviewed plans for transition from NMTA to new teacher licensure exams with NES Worked
with Program Manager for Assessment to review data points and completion rates for
secondary science and math teachers.
Juanita Hannan
Attended the NCURA's 56th Annual Meeting (National Council of University Research
Administrators)
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Met with Dr. Anita Hernandez regarding the relation between effort certification and salary for
IIELL grant.
Ron Dziwenka, Program Manager for Assessment
Continued compiling and consolidating AY14 data for the upcoming yearly Data Reports, and
began running the various reports on those data, to be given to the four programs (ECED,
ELED, SED & SPED) as well as the CEP Ph. D. Program at the beginning of the Fall 2014
semester.
Collected data on the College of Education TEP graduates (degree awardees) with majors in
Math and Science for AY 12, AY13 and AY14.
Preparing for beginning-of-the-school year meetings with the various departments and
individuals (Advising, C&I, Alternative Licensure Director, OTCP, Institutional Research, etc.)
from which data will be collected for the major yearly reports, for AY14.
Michelle Valverde, Director for Alliance and BoCES
I followed up on two community based projects involving Ngage NM and the Lions Crane
Reading Program.
I also met with the NMSU STEM and MC2 leadership teams and worked on the presentation
for the COE opening session.
Advancement Team
Developed strategic plan on travel to engage top prospects in advancement.
Lunch with Barbara Hubbard to congratulate her on being selected as this year’s distinguished
alum.
Developing Advancement Strategic Plan.
Dean, College of Engineering, Dr. Ricardo Jacquez
• A team of electrical and computer engineering students traveled to the Small Satellite
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Conference hosted by Utah State University in Logan, UT. At the conference the team
presented their progress on their small satellite project at the Engineering Design Review.
Electrical engineering student Taylor Burgett also presented a paper on the mission to the
CubeSat community. The conference has a strong industry presence and all the NMSU
students were asked for resumes.
Industrial Engineering Department Head Edward Pines and Electrical and Computer
Engineering Professor Phillip DeLeon presented the College of Engineering entrepreneurship
and innovation programs at Epicenter (Engineering Pathways to Innovation Center) Research
Summit at Stanford University. This summit, sponsored by Epicenter and National Collegiate
Inventors and Innovators Alliance and funded by the National Science Foundation, was
attended by entrepreneurship and innovation educators from the US and Europe.
A team of engineering students recently returned from Turin, Italy, having earned a spot in the
second phase of a two-year global collaboration project involving institutions in 11 countries.
The team designed and fabricated a mobile device for individual transportation within urban
settings and compete against their peers in the Portable Assisted Mobile Device vehicle
competition to take their project from initial design concept to full-scale manufacturing
including design of the proposed manufacturing facility. The team took third place in
Manufacturing and Industrial Design and First in Ergonomics and Human Engineering.
Interim Dean, College of Health and Social Services, Dr. Donna Wagner
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Associate Dean Dr. Joe Tomaka announced a new initiative, Structured Writing Time (SWT) .
SWT is for those who would like to set aside time every week to work on manuscripts or other
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scholarly writing projects. Faculty are encouraged to bring their laptops to the CHSS Memorial
Tower (room 319) and write before their day gets out of control. SWT will occur every
Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 8-10 am during the fall 2014 semester.
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Bea Favela, Director of Southern Area Health Education Center (SoAHEC), conducted
“certification” pilot training for Promotoras on Thursday in the College of Health and Social
Services building. There were 16 promotoras who received the required training to become
certified. Through a grant from the Office of Border Health, SoAHEC conducted 11 promotora
trainings and two networking meetings this year. The trainings are bi-national and include
Promotores from Juarez, Mexico, Texas and New Mexico Promotoras.
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Public Health Sciences’ (PHS) Dr. Anup Amatya’s article, Simultaneous generation of
multivariate mixed data with Poisson and Normal marginal was accepted for publication in the
Journal of Statistical Computation and Simulation.
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Ethnic Differences in Breast Cancer Prevention Information-Seeking Among Rural Women:
Will Provider Mobile Messages Work? by Drs. Cynthia Kratzke and Susan Wilson was
published in the paginated issue of Journal of Cancer Education: Volume 29, Issue 3 (2014),
Page 541-547.
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Social Work’s Maria Ortiz is representing the College of Health and Social Services in the
Discovery Days initiative. The goal was to recruit freshman and pair about 25 students with a
faculty mentor. Ms. Ortiz will be conduct two instructional sessions during orientation. The
first day, will focus on getting to know each other, and for the second day, students will be
given a case assignment that requires nurses, social workers and public health professionals to
collaborate. A Canvas course will be used to maintain contact with the students throughout the
semester. Ms. Ortiz will meet once per month for educational/fun activities to encourage
students to successfully complete their degree in a timely manner. Provost Howard is
sponsoring this project efforts to retain students through graduation.
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Through materials developed during the Hispanic Child Welfare Project, Ms. Ortiz will help
students increase their professional Spanish language skills by conducting a field seminar in
Spanish. Eight students with placements in various community agencies such as CASA, CYFD,
Schools, Healthy Start, and the Probate Court will participate. There are zero additional costs to
the School of Social Work and it is something that will enhance the capacity of the students to
serve monolingual Spanish speaking clients in our community.
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The Family and Child Welfare Training Project at New Mexico State University, a joint
partnership between the State of New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department
(CYFD) and the NMSU School of Social Work, conducted the Independent Living Youth
(ILY) Conference in Taos, New Mexico August 5-7, 2014. This conference is held annually to
educate, support and empower youth, ages 16-21, who have recently or will soon age out of the
foster care system. The conference is an opportunity to highlight services and opportunities
available to youth and give them foundational skills for their future independence.
Interim Dean, Graduate School, Dr. Loui Reyes
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Dean, Honors College, Dr. Miriam Chaiken
• I met with the teams convened by Kevin Boberg to advance the Economic Development and
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Community Engagement (Goal 4) of Vision 2020, and learned about my role as a member of
the Gold Team.
Attended the training on active shooters on campus.
Met with Mario Navarrete and Valerie Torres to learn about the Honors College Budgets.
Met with Amanda Bradford, our liaison from University Communications who works with the
Honors College.
Met with Judy Weicherding concerning recruiting dual credit students to Honors classes.
Met with Gary Lowe about opportunities for students through Aggies go Global and UBelong.
Met with Diane Calhoune from the Development office to discuss the Honors College
endowments.
Discussed plans for move-in day for our Living Learning Community with our liaison in the
office of Housing and Residence Life and made arrangements to visit with students on Sunday.
Met with student interns and students I will supervise in directed reading for fall 2014.
Attended a dinner hosted by Provost Dan Howard in honor of a visiting dignitary from a
Chinese university (thank you).
Went to the El Paso train station to pick up an incoming graduate student in Anthropology
arriving from Bangladesh.
Completed several webinars that were required for my security access to campus data bases.
On Sunday I spent several hours at the Honors College Living/Learning Community in Garrett
Hall to welcome the students and their families as they moved into the residence hall.
I took annual leave on Friday.
Dean, University Library, Dr. Elizabeth Titus
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Attended an FBI Active Shooter Training session held for NMSU senior administrators.
Attended a reception and dinner hosted by the Provost’s Office for Dr. Zhaohu Li who is from
China Agriculture University and is visiting New Mexico State University.
Accepted an appointment to serve as Chair of the Human Resources Board for Non Exempt
and Exempt Employees. The term of appointment is for three years from August 14, 2014August 14, 2017.
• Associate Provost, International and Border Program, Dr. Cornell Menking
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On August 6 Cornell Menking presented at “Ecuador Day” at Kansas State University. Present
at the event was Ecuadorian Ambassador to the U.S. Nathalie Cely, KSU Provost April Mason,
members of the KSU Board of Regents, and two hundred other guests. The title of Menking’s
presentation was “The Ecuadorian Go Teacher Project and Its Contributions to Comprehensive
Internationalization at NMSU”.
NMSU hosted Dr. Zhaohu Li, Vice Presdient for Research at China Agriculture University in
Beijing from August 11-15, 2014. During his visit he had extensive visits with faculty and
deans from ACES, Arts and Science, as well high level NMSU officials. On August 12
Provost Howard hosted a large, well-attended reception for Dr. Li at his home. It is hoped that
numerous joint research and degree programs will result from the visit.
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On August 12 IBP and the Center for English Language Programs graduated 63 participants from
its third cohort of the Ecuadorian “Go Teacher” project. NMSU has a proposal to continue the
project and will hopefully host another group beginning in January, 2015.
Cornell Menking met with Kevin Boberg, Cecilia Levine, Lucinda Vargas regarding “El Punto”
project in Juarez. The project centers on the construction of a 62,000 square meter “church
without walls” in El Chamizal. Designed by world-renowned architects Herzog y De Meuron, the
space will be a place to bring together religious, musical, artistic and cultural activities. Further
meetings will be held to gauge the NMSU community’s interest in contributing to the project.
Fourteen Aggies participating in the NMSU Engineering Without Boundaries project (formerly
Engineers Without Borders) returned from a summer project in Querétaro, Mexico last week.
Kenny Stevens, associate professor of engineering technology, and adviser to the group, said,
“[They] did amazing things and finished the community center in Rancho Nuevo in twenty-three
days. Community members were involved throughout the process and were thrilled to have the
scrap wood and cardboard shack replaced by something that they can use for years to come. Tears
and hugs were many as the group left on the 14th of August for a day's R & R in Queretaro City
before flying back to El Paso. A local Huapango band even showed up for the send-off. As of
now, the new center will be used as a school, community gathering place, church and doctor's
office. The construction site was visited by the municipal president of Pinal de Amoles, and high
ranking members of the Comision Nacional de Aguas de Queretaro. Radio Queretaro (state radio)
broadcast a report on the project and even got our name right (Universidad Estatal de Nuevo
Mexico) A massive thank you goes out to the two student project managers, Tiffany Turner and
Isaias Corona, as well as the municipal architect of Pinal de Amoles, Fernando Torres, who went
above and beyond by providing technical advice, material acquisition assistance and
transportation.”
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Senior Vice President Administration and Finance, Angela Throneberry
• NMSU Housing welcomes students for the fall semester – Sunday, August 17, begins Welcome
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Week for hundreds of new students moving to their on-campus housing with the Aggie BBQ
that afternoon. NMSU Barnes & Noble along with Auxiliary Services donated 1600 backpacks
to do dorm stuffing so the students will have one bag in their dorm room with fliers and
information about the bookstore, and other spots on campus.
NMSU Barnes & Noble Bookstore is working with 2 elementary schools to encourage
graduation – Kohlberg Elementary School in El Paso, which is rated 10 out of 10, has adopted
NMSU as their college they would talk about to their students to encourage not just graduating
from high school, but going to college and graduating also. T-shirts, key chains for their back
packs, pennants and banners were donated to the first grade bi-lingual class. This mission is
also being partnered with by Jaramillo Elementary School in Belen, NM, which has four
NMSU alumni on staff.
Hardman & Jacobs Undergraduate Learning Center – Selective demolition at Hardman Hall is
in process to make way for the new Hardman & Jacobs Undergraduate Learning Center. The
shell of the central auditorium and (2) classrooms above will remain and be incorporated into
new construction. The building is scheduled to be open for Fall of 2015 classes.
Pete Domenici Hall – Jaynes Corp is completing the final touches on the interior of the building
and has received the temporary Certificate of Occupancy so they can now receive and place
furniture in the building. Disassembly and removal of the construction fencing is slated to
begin and site cleanup is underway. Department staff and students are scheduled to start
moving into their new offices on August 25th.
New Light Pole Banners – UCOMM and Facilities partnered on the design and installation of
21 light pole banners recognizing our Regents Professors. The banners are prominently
displayed on the International Mall, building Aggie pride as you walk by!
Special Advisor to the President, Ben Woods
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Vice President Student Affairs / Enrollment
Management,Dr. Bernadette Montoya
Office of the Vice President, Dr. Bernadette Montoya
• On August 14, Dr. Montoya led a workshop on
strengths-based leadership before students left for
the three-day Student Leadership Retreat. Based on
Strengths Finder, she worked with students on
identifying and applying their strengths in all
aspects of their lives.
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SAEM Events staff are working on December’s
Commencement Ceremony. As NMSU’s largest
public event, Commencement gives NMSU a chance
to celebrate our core mission of transforming lives
through discovery. The staff that plans this event is
seeking to increase university-wide participation
and will be looking for staff and faculty to take a
greater role in future ceremonies.
Dr. Montoya discusses strengths-based leadership
with students who participated in the Student
Leadership Retreat.
From left to right: Alyce Kolenovsky (HSS), Jennifer
Hodges (A&S), Karen Pech (HSS) and Marissa Macias
(Student Engagement) staffed advised students during
Move-In Day.
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Staff from offices in the Ed Services Building welcomed students and their families to campus
on Sunday’s Move-In Day with hours from 8 am to 4 pm. Student traffic was steady in most
offices.
Michelle Balon, the second of three candidates for University Registrar, visited campus on
Wednesday. The most current information about this search is at
http://studentaffairs.nmsu.edu/registrar-search/
University Financial Aid and Scholarship Services, Ms. Janie Merchant
• University Financial Aid and Scholarship Services has worked with Kim Eiland in the
Registrar’s Office to update Banner programming to reflect new limits on federal student
subsidized loans. Students may not receive subsidized loans for more than 150% of their
established program length (usually 6 years for a baccalaureate degree). This new
programming will ensure that no students are awarded loans for which they are not eligible.
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University Financial Aid and Scholarship Services has been invited to take a more active role
in the University Academic Advisor’s Council, in an effort to emphasize the important
relationship between academics and financial aid and to foster understanding about
academic and financial aid procedures. At last week’s meeting of the University Academic
Advisor’s Council, Financial Aid advisors Joseph Molina and Claire Montoya answered
questions about financial aid and Claire’s role as Outreach Advisor.
New Mexico Legislative Lottery Scholarship: In a recent calling campaign, Financial Aid staff
and work-study students recently contacted about 200 students who were either not
enrolled or enrolled in fewer than 15 credit hours to remind them about new requirements
regarding the Lottery Scholarship. Most of the feedback was great — the majority of students
contacted were appreciative, as they said they were not aware of the changes.
Student Engagement, Dr. Terry Cook
• The final New Student Registration event for fall semester was held on Friday, August 15 for
about 80 students. Since late April, we have welcomed over 2,600 incoming students
(including transfer students) at an NSR.
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NMSU’s first Discovery Days concluded on Saturday with a celebration for participants and
NMSU administration at the Fulton Center’s Danny Villanueva Victory Club. Students
reported learning useful information about
NMSU during Discovery Days, and by Move-In Day, several said they already felt like they had
friends on campus.
Thanks, NMSU, from some of the 60 students
who attended NMSU’s first Discovery Days.
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Discovery Days, 2014
Vice President Economic Development, Dr. Kevin Boberg
• Arrowhead Presentation: Kathy Hansen, Director of Arrowhead Center, gave an Arrowhead
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overview presentation to the monthly meeting of the High Tech Consortium at the Hotel
Encanto. Graduate students Luke Smith and Brendan Sullivan also attended and discussed their
startup companies.
Hub of Human Innovation Meeting: The Director, Cathy Swain, and Executive Program
Manager, Nancy Lowery of the Hub (El Paso) visited Arrowhead this week to discuss regional
economic development models and gaps in the innovative ecosystem the organizations could
collaboratively address.
AbqID Office Hours: Arrowhead Center will now be providing weekly business incubation and
entrepreneurship support in Albuquerque as a part of the AbqID “Office Hours” event held
each week on Wednesdays from 3-5 pm. Arrowhead will be working alongside the entire
InnovateAbq team of partners to continue our mission of developing and expanding the
innovation network statewide.
Vice President Research, Dr. Vimal Chaitanya
• Zhaohu Li, China Agricultural University’s Vice President for Research visited NMSU from
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August 11-14. Vimal Chaitanya hosted a dinner at a local restaurant which was attended by ten
faculty researchers for identifying areas of research mutually beneficial to NMSU and AUC.
NM WRRI Director Sam Fernald gave him a tour of local irrigation facilities and Pete
Lammers, Director of Energy Research Lab gave him tour of algal test bed facility.
New Mexico Space Grant received notification from NASA Office of Education that we were
awarded $500,000 through the National Space Grant and Fellowship Program to increase
student and faculty engagement in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)
at community colleges and technical schools across New Mexico.
NMSU/PSL is in competitive discussions with NASA on the balloon support competition
solicitation. Narrative responses have been submitted to NASA, in person meetings will be held
next week, and revised cost proposals are due early in September.
The Office of Research Development made a major contribution to the US Department of
Agriculture Water for Agriculture Challenge proposal, “Rio Grande Basin Water for
Agriculture”. Sam Fernald is the P.I. on this proposal. The $5 million, five-year project is an
interdisciplinary, multi-university project, including New Mexico State University, Colorado
State University, Texas A&M, Institute of American Indian Arts, Alamosa Land Institute,
Oregon State University, and University of New Mexico.
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Luis Vazquez, presented a five-hour workshop on “How to work with Interpreters in
Healthcare” on Saturday, August 16, at O’Donnell Hall for the Prescribing Psychologist
program at NMSU. Twenty Ph.D. licensed psychologist attended that workshop in diverse
healthcare settings ranging from hospitals, mental health centers, in rural areas and
reservations.
Sam Fernald attended and made a presentation at the Alcalde Field Day on August 13, 2014.
Vice President University Advancement / Foundation Executive Director,
Ms. Cheryl Harrelson
No Activity to Report
Athletics Director, Dr. McKinley Boston, Jr.
No Activity to Report
Associate Vice President University Communications, Maureen Howard
• This week’s NMSU Sunday feature in the Las Cruces Sun-News focused on the growth of
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summer camps offered by the NMSU STEM Outreach Center in the College of Education. The
STEM summer camps were available for the first time in Albuquerque and Truth or
Consequences, and more camps were offered in Las Cruces and the Gadsden Independent
School District.
Senior Public Information Specialist Jane Moorman attended the annual field day at the
Sustainable Agriculture Science Center at Alcalde Aug. 13. News writer Angela Simental and
Director of News Darrell J. Pehr attended the field day at the Agricultural Science Center at
Tucumcari Aug. 7. Both field days were opportunities for us to learn the latest about research
projects that will result in future coverage.
The Athletics Media Relations staff assisted Coach Doug Martin with several radio and
television interviews, including 101 Gold Radio, CBS Sports Radio 102.1 FM and KOB-TV in
Albuquerque, which made a trip to Las Cruces for the interview.
The latest Viewbook package is hot off the press this week. Jeany Llorente-Ontiveros,
Publications Coordinator, and Gerald Rel, Graphics Designer, did another outstanding job!
Below is a sample 2-page spread, which features a student testimonial from Dakota Burrow.
Dakota was offered more than one million dollars in scholarships from universities across the
country and he is a double major in our College of Engineering studying mechanical and
electrical engineering.
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Assistant Vice President Government Relations, Ricardo Rel
• Staff attended the Higher Education Department capital outlay hearing. It appears that the
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committee is likely to support our third priority funding request for the tunnels. Vicente and I
are developing strategic plans to address some of the issues that were raised with our top
priority request for Jett Hall which includes meetings between you and key members when they
are on campus.
I organized and participated in a conference call between Angela Throneberry, Anna Price and
Lonnie Marquez with NM Tech. Mr. Marquez is chairing a subcommittee on the funding
formula to address the “cost of opening the doors.” Angela provided him with some ideas on
how to address the issue. Mr. Marquez held a subcommittee meeting on Friday, August 13,
2014.
I attended the HED Formula Steering Committee meeting in Albuquerque. Dave Lepre did a
great job in moving the committee forward in the right direction. The committee assigned a
subcommittee that includes Dave Lepre, Mark Chisolm, Tracy Hartzler, Andrew Jacobson and
Kathy Ulibarri to develop a spreadsheet that concurs with the concept that was adopted by the
committee at an earlier meeting. I will provide a written report on the meeting with a
description of what I believe the subcommittee was instructed to complete.
Rep. Bill McCamley was on campus and met with Dr. Satish Ranade regarding the College of
Engineering’s $250,000 RPSP request for the Southwest Technology Development Institute.
There was also discussion as to which legislator would sponsor this request. Rep. McCamley
will support this request but is hesitant to be the lead sponsor as there may be a conflict of
interest from his standpoint.
Upcoming Legislative Events:
• August 25-27 – Joint meeting of Legislative Finance Committee and Legislative Education
Study Committee – Las Vegas
• Preliminary General Fund Revenue Report for FY14 and Estimates for FY15 and FY16
• Severance Tax Bond and General Obligation Bond Capacity
• Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge Grant Implementation Update
• PED Implementation of Select FY15 Related Recurring Initiatives
• August 25 – Military & Veterans Committee – Silver City
• August 27-28 – LESC Charter School Subcommittee – Las Vegas
• August 28-29 – Indian Affairs Committee – Laguna
• August 28 – Jobs Council – Las Cruces
Director/Secretary New Mexico Department of Agriculture, Jeff M. Witte
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I attended the New Mexico Homeland Security and Emergency Management Conference this
week. This conference provided a great opportunity to thank our first responders for protecting
the state and the agricultural community when events such as wildfires, floods, and other
disasters take place. Over 400 were in attendance.
I also had the opportunity to meet with the new state veterinarian from the New Mexico
Livestock Board. We discussed opportunities to use the extension program to disseminate
information to New Mexico producers and conduct educational seminars on animal health and
biosecurity. I believe we have a solid partner for NMSU.
Staff is finalizing the details for NMSU’s second annual Agriculture Day on Thursday, August
28. Samples of beef, dairy products, chile, watermelon, and peanuts will be offered during the
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street fair that takes place from 3 to 6 p.m. There will be more than 40 booths representing
almost every facet of New Mexico’s diverse agricultural community.
NMDA, in coordination with the Department of Health and New Mexico Livestock Board, has
sent out a warning to all New Mexico residents about the influx of the West Nile virus. The
virus has already claimed one horse in the Albuquerque area; however, as of this past week
there have been no human cases so far. The state is asking that people vaccinate their horses
and take extra precautions for themselves as well.
Chief, NMSU Police, Stephen Lopez
• A discussion was held with the Provost and the Community College Presidents regarding
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standardization of security guard/officer positions throughout the system. The discussion was
favorable, so additional efforts are now underway to design a system-wide security program
that ensures the needs of all campuses are met.
The FBI conducted a workshop for university administrators on active shooter incident
prevention. There were a couple of ideas advanced to improve the programs in the NMSU
system, but overall the FBI agent presenting was very complimentary of the measures NMSU
has already implemented as a system and considers them to be best practices.
The Police Department conducted an active shooter response workshop for the Housing and
Residence Life employees in order to ensure they are knowledgeable in how to identify
"leakage" about an incident before an attack takes place, how to report concerns to NMSU
administration, and what to do (for themselves and their residents) if there is ever an actual
incident.
A workshop on situational leadership was provided to the attendees of the Student Leadership
Retreat outside Cloudcroft, NM.
Certifications for police detection canines was conducted for canine teams from NMSU, the
Federal Protective Service, and the Zuni Tribal Police.
80 individuals were fingerprinted at the NMSU Police Department in the past week as part of
either hiring processes or student placement in various programs (to include health occupations
programs, student teachers, etc.).
There were 33 police reports taken, 57 traffic citations issued, and 5 people arrested or charged
with crimes.
During Move-In Day, the Police Department provided traffic control along University Avenue,
a bicycle patrol on the I-Mall, and assisted directly with moving belongings into Chamisa
Village. The Police Department also participated in the freshman scavenger hunt, allowing
participants to experience the back seat of a police car without any of the negative
repercussions that usually follow.
A new 911 system was installed this past week. There are still some bugs being worked out of
the system, but it will eventually allow 911 calls placed from cell phones on campus to ring
directly to the NMSU Emergency Dispatch Center, rather than having to be routed to offcampus dispatch centers. This will significantly decrease response times for police, fire, and
medical emergencies taking place on the Las Cruces campus.
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